# Chester (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/chester/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | English |
| Meaning | “a town”, “city”, “especially a roman one” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈt͡ʃɛ.stɚ/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | Chet |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 122,302 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 121,474 / 828 (1% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 6,250, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Middle English Chestre, from Old English Ċeaster, from ċeaster (“a town or city, especially a Roman one”). The village in Nova Scotia is likely named after the city in Pennsylvania.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1952 | 14 | 2,933 |
| 1953 | 12 | 3,302 |
| 1954 | 8 | 4,337 |
| 1955 | 5 | 5,967 |
| 1957 | 13 | 3,345 |
| 1958 | 7 | 4,975 |
| 1959 | 5 | 6,393 |
| 1961 | 5 | 6,707 |
| 1962 | 6 | 5,956 |
| 1966 | 7 | 5,351 |
| 1968 | 5 | 7,162 |
| 1970 | 6 | 7,199 |
| 1972 | 6 | 7,432 |
| 1974 | 6 | 7,850 |
| 1983 | 5 | 10,561 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 82 | 1,772 |
| 2012 | 71 | 1,986 |
| 2013 | 78 | 1,832 |
| 2014 | 84 | 1,783 |
| 2015 | 98 | 1,625 |
| 2016 | 76 | 1,926 |
| 2017 | 93 | 1,698 |
| 2018 | 93 | 1,689 |
| 2019 | 91 | 1,725 |
| 2020 | 99 | 1,622 |
| 2021 | 68 | 2,113 |
| 2022 | 94 | 1,761 |
| 2023 | 96 | 1,730 |
| 2024 | 102 | 1,652 |
| 2025 | 107 | 1,588 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 59 | 588 |
| 2012 | 74 | 507 |
| 2013 | 61 | 581 |
| 2014 | 116 | 359 |
| 2015 | 247 | 231 |
| 2016 | 248 | 225 |
| 2017 | 279 | 195 |
| 2018 | 555 | 112 |
| 2019 | 680 | 90 |
| 2020 | 691 | 84 |
| 2021 | 680 | 87 |
| 2022 | 612 | 91 |
| 2023 | 583 | 89 |
| 2024 | 464 | 116 |
| 2025 | 388 | 128 |

## People named Chester

- Chester Bennington, American singer, songwriter and musician (1976–2017)
- Chester Morris, American actor (1901–1970)
- Chester Carlson, American physicist (1906-1968)
- Daniel Chester French, American sculptor (1850–1931)
- Chester Conklin, actor, comedian (1886-1971)
- Chester Himes, fiction writer from the U.S. state of Missouri (1909–1984)
- Chester Irving Barnard, American businessman (1886–1961)
- William Chester Minor, American army surgeon, psychiatric-hospital patient, and lexicographical researcher
- Chester Thompson, American drummer
- Chester Bowles, American politician (1901–1986)
- Chester Gould, American cartoonist (1900–1985)
- Alfred Chester Beatty, American copper mining magnate (1875–1968)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.